An Important Question: Why Breed Service Dogs When You Could Rescue?

We have received a lot of questions lately about why we breed dogs to become service dogs when there are so many dogs in shelters looking for good homes. This is an excellent question, and it’s one that we’ve given a lot of thought to over the years.

In our early days, we used to rescue dogs from local shelters and humane societies to train as service dogs. There was a growing need for highly trained service dogs, however, and although we don’t like seeing any dog in a shelter, we were unable to meet that need by training rescue dogs.

Twenty years ago, we discovered that there were very few dogs in shelters that would be suitable for service dog work, and today, there are even fewer. We mostly train Labrador Retrievers, and while we understand that there are many labs in shelters, especially black labs, very few of these dogs could become service dogs. When we were searching for rescue dogs, we often found that the dogs that met our temperament, age, and health requirements were the dogs that were adopted quickly.

Not just any dog can become a service dog. The dog needs to have the right temperament, meaning they need to be calm with the ability to relax for extended periods of time, have no prey drive, and be willing to work. Service dogs need to be able to easily adapt to stress because they will be going almost everywhere with their person. They need to be able to stay calm around crowds, loud noises, strange surfaces, other animals, and more. Most importantly, they need to be able to continue to work despite the distractions around them. We met many lovely dogs when we were searching the shelters, but very few of them could handle the stress of working in public.

The dogs also need to meet certain health requirements because we cannot place a dog with a person if that dog has health issues or a high probability of developing health issues in the future. All of our dogs have their hips, elbows, and eyes checked, and they’re screened for several genetic diseases. Our goal is to provide people with a healthy, highly trained service dog that will be able to mitigate a variety of disabilities. We do not want to give someone a dog that will need to retire in 2-3 years, nor do we want to provide a dog that is going to require expensive vet bills, which the person may not be able to afford. We want people to have a dog that will be able to safely and comfortably work until they’re 9-11 years old.

The breed of dog that we train is also very important to us. As we mentioned, we usually train Labradors Retrievers. We also occasionally train golden retrievers and standard poodles. Although there are many reasons we use these breeds, one of the biggest reason is the public perception of these types of dogs. The public perceives labs to be very friendly dogs, which makes people more apt to interact with the person holding the leash. And that’s key. Our goal is for the service dog to help their person interact with the community and make new friends.

By breeding service dogs, we have more control over the dogs’ temperament and health. In fact, we recently joined the AssistanceDogs International North America Breeding Cooperative, which gives us access to expert advice on breeding. There is a lot of research that goes into each individual breeding that we do. We look at the individual dogs, as well as their history, and if they have had puppies, we also look at the puppies. Our goal with each breeding is to improve the genetic line and the quality of service dogs that are produced. We never randomly breed any of our dogs. If one of our broods is in heat but we can’t find a suitable stud, we will skip that heat cycle rather than breed her to an unsuitable stud.

All of our breeding dogs live in family homes, and when they’re not breeding, they have jobs, which allows us to see the dog’s actual potential as a service dog. Some of our broods and studs work as demonstration dogs, visiting groups and organizations to demonstrate what service dogs can do. Others work as interview dogs where they show people who have applied for service dogs how a dog can help them.

All of our puppies are born in the homes of our volunteer breeder caretakers (although some puppies have been born at the vet or en route to the vet). We monitor the puppies and the mother very closely. From the time the puppies are born, we begin preparing them to become service dogs. Every day until the puppies are 18 days old, we do early neurological stimulation (holding the puppy on its back, holding the puppy vertically with its head up, holding the puppy vertically upside-down, tickling between its toes, and placing the puppy on a cold towel). This early neurological stimulation makes the dogs more adaptable to stress later in life.

We also make sure we provide plenty of toys and other objects for the puppies, so they can play and start solving problems. If you watch our puppy cams, you’ll see all kinds of toys in the whelping box. All of this adds up to highly intelligent dogs who are highly adaptable to any situation—very important traits in a service dog.

Our broods have several litters and then they are spayed and retired. Our broods will never continually have puppies for their entire lives. Depending on the age of the dog at retirement, they may be trained as a working service dog or they may be adopted by their breeder caretaker family or another family.

In fact, any dog that does not make it through our program is adopted or finds another job. Our dogs never end up in shelters. We will find another job for the dog, such as with the CIA, ATF, or state police, or we will find a loving family home—and we always try to match the dog and the family. Similarly, if one of our partners is no longer able to care for their service dog for whatever reason, we will take the dog back and find it a new home.

It was a tough decision to decide to breed rather than rescue, but it was necessary if we wanted to provide high quality service dogs for people with disabilities. 

What It Takes to Be a Breeding Dog at SSD

As you know, we have a breeding program here at Susquehanna Service Dogs. (Please see Why Do We Breed Service Dogs.) Our goal is to create successful service dogs, so we put a lot of consideration into selecting the dogs that enter our breeding program. Let’s follow the journey of SSD General George Meade to see what requirements the dogs need to meet before they can become breeders.

Each of our litters are carefully planned, and we always hope to produce a female or a very exceptional male so that we can continue to improve the genetic line and create more high quality service dogs. Some litters have special parents, and Meade was from such a litter, the Civil War Litter. His father was our founding stud dog, SSD Sweet William. Will had some great qualities that we wanted to bring back into our lines. Will was also a great balance dog, which is a type of service dog that is in great demand.   

Once Meade and his siblings were eight weeks old, they took a serious temperament test based on C.A.R.A.T., developed bySuzanne Clothier. Meade did well on his test and he entered the puppy raising program with high hopes of success. The entire litter also visited the veterinarian ophthalmologist for an eye exam to make sure there aren’t any issues and that they didn’t have any heritable eye diseases. Meade had normal eyes, according to CERF (Canine Eye Registration Foundation).

Throughout the first nine months of his life, Meade attended puppy classes with the other dogs in the program and went through several formal evaluations. Each month, his puppy raisers completed a report on his successes and challenges, as well as his raisers’ training ability. On the one hand, he had some small issues, but on the other, he had an experienced puppy raiser to work with him.

At six months, Meade’s puppy raiser completed the C-BARQ, the Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire. The C-BARQ provides standardized evaluations of the dog’s temperament and behavior. Each question describes the ways a dog would typically respond to every day events and situations. The dog can then be compared to other dogs in the database. The C-BARQ gives the SSD staff more information about the dog, allowing us to make better decisions about each dog’s future in the program.

When Meade was between 9 and 11 months old, his hips and elbows were x-rayed. All of our dogs must meet certain hip and elbow requirements in order to remain in our program. We do a preliminary OFA (OrthopedicFoundation for Animals) test for hips and elbows. We also use PennHIP to evaluate hips. In order to become a breeding dog for SSD, the dog must receive a good or excellent on the OFA hips test and have normal elbows. The results of the PennHIP evaluation must show that the dog is in the top 50% of the breed.

SSD Meade had no elbow dysplasia, OFA excellent hips, and was in the top 70% according to PennHIP.

We usually wait until the dogs are at least 12 months old before neutering them. This can correspond with the 12-month evaluation that we do for all of our dogs. Meade went to the kennel overnight with his siblings and other dogs close to his age. There, he went through an even more intensive evaluation, similar to C.A.R.A.T., as well as some special SSD evaluations. He also had to meet and train around the kennel cats. The 12-month evaluation can determine the future of the dog, but we always consider their entire history, the history of his siblings, and more. After his 12-month evaluation, we began to seriously consider Meade for our breeding program.

From the 12-month evaluation until he entered advanced training, Meade continued attending puppy classes and public outings with his puppy raiser. Each month, his puppy raiser submitted her monthly report, including both the good and bad behaviors. When Meade was 12 months old, his puppy raiser completed another C-BARQ. Things still looked good.

Meade went for his second visit to the veterinarian ophthalmologist for another eye exam. Again, it came back normal, with a clear CERF. All of the dogs in our breeding program and the ones we are considering have an annual eye exam. 

When he was between 16 and 18 months old, Meade entered advanced training at the kennel. Advanced training is where the dogs learn the advanced skills they’ll use a working service dogs. During this time, we look at how the dog handles the stress of the kennel, works with a variety of people, rides in the Sprinter van, and handles being around other, often stressed, dogs. We want a dog that can quietly handle this life. A potential breeding dog must spend a minimum of two weeks at the kennel, but it can be a month or longer, depending on kennel space, training staff time, and scheduling.

While he was in advanced training, Meade got to participate in the “Meet the Dogs” process, where people have the opportunity to meet several dogs, one of which could become their future service dog. We often have our potential breeding dogs go to “Meet the Dogs” to see how they react.

Meade made it that far. Although he isn’t perfect, he’s still being considered as a breeding dog. The next step is for Meade to have genetic tests and a heart screening performed. Some of this information is readily available. Based on his parentage, he is clear for progressive retinal atrophy (PRA). With PRA, a dog can be normal, a carrier, or affected. Meade is normal. We want our studs to be normal rather than carriers because then the dog has more breeding options. (i.e. A carrier cannot be bred to another carrier, but a normal dog could.)

Meade was also tested for retinal dysplasia and oculoskeletal dysplasia and exercise induced collapse, and he is normal for both. He then had an echocardiogram performed by the veterinarians at Palmyra Animal Clinic. The results were sent out to be read, and Meade was again declared normal.

We also look at any other physical issues the dog may have had throughout his life. Meade has had no other physical problems, such as allergies, ear infections, broken bones, torn ligaments, seizures, or other problems.

The next thing to do was find a good match for Meade. Once a bitch (female breeding dog) was found, Meade had to be tested yet again, this time for brucellosis, an infectious disease that would cause the dog to be eliminated from the breeding program. Meade’s test came back negative, and when the bitch was ready, they were successfully bred.

Then the entire process starts all over, only this time we look at his litter. Meade now has a history based on the successes and problems with his litters.

At any point, if a stud exhibits any significant issues or even lots of small ones, he can be neutered.

Each of our studs and bitches live at home with volunteers, called breeder caretakers. These volunteers may be the dog’s puppy raisers or someone else who stepped in. We encourage all of our breeder caretakers to continue training their dog as a demo/therapy/interview dog. These dogs give demonstrations to various groups about what service dogs can do, accompany staff and volunteers to interview potential partners, and visit hospitals and other clinics. Meade has been training to become a demo/therapy/interview dog, and has some experience in this area, which makes his handler proud. He is a loving, joyful, and exuberant dog who enriches the lives of his raisers and the many people he meets.

Investing in the Future

Over the years, we have grown tremendously. What started in 1993 with a small group of volunteers has grown to a large network of staff and volunteers working together to raise and train service dogs for people with disabilities. Now we are looking toward the future and developing a plan to continue growing and improving our program so we can change even more lives with the assistance of our dogs.

As many of you know, we have a breeding program here at SSD (please see our post Why Do We Breed Service Dogs? for our reasoning behind this choice). Recently, we hired breeding consultant Marina Hall Phillips to help us evaluate our breeding program and examine other areas of our entire program so we can make sure we’re doing the best we can to provide successful service dogs for men, women, and children with disabilities. Marina has worked with Canine Companions for Independence and Guide Dogs for the Blind, and she has many years of experience with service dog breeding programs. We have every confidence that she’ll help us make successful changes!

Last night, a group of our volunteers met with Marina to discuss their volunteer experiences with SSD and the breeding program, as well as our program’s overall strengths and weaknesses. In true SSD fashion, we followed this discussion with a potluck dinner. While our volunteers were talking with Marina, our staff made sure all the food was cooked or heated.

From the honest discussion our volunteers had with Marina, we hope to improve not only our breeding program, but our entire program.

We have a small staff, so we rely on our volunteers to do a lot. When we tell our volunteers that we couldn’t do it without them, we truly mean it! Our volunteers raise puppies, help us train our advanced training dogs in public, whelp litters, care for our breeding dogs, puppy sit, do therapy visits with children with autism, give demonstrations, do home visits for potential partners and puppy raisers, help with Meet the Dogs and Team Training—the list goes on and on.

As we develop our plan for the future, we imagine that many of the improvements will result in an improved volunteer experience. All improvements mean that we will be able to provide higher quality service dogs that are well-suited to working with their partners. And that means that means that more lives will be changed.

If you’re interested in joining Susquehanna Service Dogs as a volunteer, please apply online. We would love to have you join us!